Hi Guys. If there's anything you'd like me to read and rate please don't hesitate to leave a message...
Hi Guys. If there's anything you'd like me to read and rate please don't hesitate to leave a message. Take care, love, Stace.x
Member since:13.04.2003
Reviews:44
Members who trust:45
Sleepers is an excellent film based on the even better novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra. In the novel, Carcaterra claims that the story is based on the true story of what he himself experienced as a child with his three friends. The film repeats this claim which was considered by many to be misleading.
The story starts by showing us the lives of several of the inhabitants of an area of New York known as Hells Kitchen. We meet four young teenage boys who are the closest of friends and the main characters of out story: Lorenzo, Michael, Tommy and John. We also get to meet people from their neighbourhood who they grew up with.
After a childish prank goes wrong and a man ends up in hospital because of it, the boys are sent to a detention centre, sentenced to serve approximately a year each for their crime. While imprisoned their lives change drastically. They are physically, mentally and sexually abused by the people they are supposed to trust the most - the sadistic prison guards.
They remain good friends after they have been released but the next time we see them in the film is about eleven years later. One of them has become a lawyer, trying to make sure that no boy is ever hurt the way he was in a detention centre. One has become a journalist hoping that one day he can tell people the truth about what really happened in the detention centres. The other two have become gunmen for the mob, having been in and out of prison all their lives, their personalities having changed enormously since the beginning of the story. In a chance encounter the two gunmen meet up in a restaurant with one of their torturers from all those years ago; they shoot him dead in front of several witnesses.
They are now both facing life sentences purely because they needed to erase a memory too painful to keep any longer. Can their friends and the people from the old neighbourhood save them or are they doomed to die in prison?
The film has a stellar cast directed by Barry Levinson. The young versions of the boys have not been seen in another film before Sleepers but the adult cast consists of actors such as Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon and Jason Patric. There is also a wonderful performance by Robert De Niro
Sleepers grabs your attention and pull you into the intense story of friendship and the price of loyalty under extreme conditions. The New York settings are extremely realistic and the acting is second to none. The only suggestion I would have for this film was that they could have used music more to express the emotions of the characters.
One problem with having actors such as Brad Pitt and Kevin Bacon in a film such as this is that people will enjoy the film because a favourite actor is in it rather than because of the wonderful storyline.
I would suggest that you read the novel rather than watch the film because since Carcaterra really experienced it, in this case, a word is worth a thousand pictures. To read the pain and the hurt as the person actually experienced it is moving, and at many points upsetting.
Stacey Bullen
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
The first thing you needto know aboutSleepersis that it's based on anovelby Lorenzo ... more
Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The first thing you needto know aboutSleepersis that it's based on anovelby Lorenzo ... more
Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: A deep and moving plot based on a real story & exceptional actor performances. Disadvantages: Some disturbing scenes of sexual and physical assult.
e.j.kingham 15.06.2005 (15.06.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sleepers (DVD)
![Sleepers [DVD] [1997]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78520059.jpg "Sleepers [DVD] [1997]")
Apr 14th, 2003
(Apr 20th, 2003)
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